lines from horace

i found these lines back when i was in college while reading old issues of the ny times review of books at the up main lib. they struck me then and they still remain meaningful to me now. horace wrote them in 13 BCE.

tell me my ligurinus

why do these reluctant flowing tears

surprise these dry cheeks

and my fluent tongue stumble

in unbecoming silences

among syllables

in dreams at night i hold you in my arms

or toil behind your flight across the martian field

or chase through yielding waves

the boy who will not yield